Slate Magazine describes Elizabeth McKenzie's The Portable Veblen as a "bold new novel about a woman's relationship with a squirrel"...naturally, I was intrigued; as it turns out, the book is also:- an allegory about the corrupting influence of money,
- an examination of the things that bring people together and tear them apart,
- a John Grisham-style legal thriller, only about government contracting (scorcher!), and
- an homage to Thorstein Veblen, the 20th Century sociologist who coined the phrase 'conspicuous consumption'
all of which combine in a heady cocktail of whimsy (the protagonist talks frequently to a squirrel, and drives it around town in a particularly psychedelic set piece), intrigue, romance, and neuroses -- the latter a product of familial upbringings that rival the most bizarre and/or disturbing in literary memory...I won't ruin the ending (mostly because I haven't actually read the book), but suffice to say that it's a bit nuts - 9 acorns out of 10.
(A tip of the furry cap to baconbaking for bringing this delightful story to our attention.)
(A tip of the furry cap to baconbaking for bringing this delightful story to our attention.)
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33 comments:
Why did Samantha pick Elizabeth as her nom de plume?
Did you just provide a book review of a book you did not read? Sounds like my W&M English classes.
love thorstein veblen-- that guy was perspicacious!
hate slate serial spoiler episode four-- those ding-dongs have no idea what they're talking about. is anyone listening to serial season 2? it's awesome and i explained it all two days ago on sentence of dave. those slate people should give it a read.
i might've, whitney. i might've.
I have serial for breakfast.
wow, i haven't been feeling well lately, but i didn't realize i'd become my wife. that's weird.
major early season test for the tribe in the 'burg this afternoon. defending conference champs northeastern head into the game with a perfect 3-0 mark in caa play. the huskies beat miami earlier this season and have a loaded starting lineup. they don't often play well in williamsburg, though, which might explain why the tribe are 1.5 point favorites. a loss for w&m puts us two games behind in the early going. i don't have a great feeling about this one.
Washinnton football favored, too. How the green and gold fares today, so shall the burgundy and gold tomorrow.
it was really hard to write even this small post as a single run-on sentence. major respect to dave for his profligacy in abusing english grammar conventions.
Watched the first episode of Making a Murderer this morn. I'm all in.
made it through january in the year in gheorghe post. this shit is exhausting.
Finished Making a Murderer earlier this week. So much awful within those ten episodes. Regardless of your feelings about the guilt or innocence of the subject, the abuses of the legal system should appall you.
down goes february!
marching on!
Anyone else excited to attend an all you can eat beef fries and beer fundraiser tonight? I had a physical today so I should be good to go.
april, over.
Still dry in 2016. Even met up with friends at a bar yesterday, hadn't caught up with them in a while, had a few co-colas while they had beers and Jager shots. Dropped a dozen pounds since Jan 1.
Tribe up 7 on the Chubbies at the break.
I too am a Serial Dan, Dave. I don't listen to the Slate podcasts though.
And it's also an all-you-can drink event, Zedman. For 4.5 hours. Our wives are gonna be psyched tomorrow.
Or Serial fan. Whatevs.
tribe wins. convincingly. good to know my prognostication skills are in midseason form.
danimal, did y'all just get all entrepreneurial on us? congratulations - that's really cool.
Tryin Rob, tryin.
Good on you Whit. Keep it up. Was this a pre-planned practice or did you have a doozy on NYE? Or probably both?
And thanks Rob. Preshiate ya.
grooming and boarding, or just grooming? told my sister - hope she'll spread the word.
Pets or people? Road trip!
Anyone care to tell the rest of us why Danimal is receiving congratulations? I assume he's balling like E-40. I just don't know why.
These playoff games are shitty. So shitty. Good game in the Carrier Dome though.
4th quarter in cincy was bonkers. bengals completely lost their shit.
Bengals went Bengals. A bunch of guys with questionable decision making skills made questionable decisions. Shocking. But true.
What a mess of a game. I thought the officiating was pro-Stillers all night. I don't know how that hit on Bernard not only wasn't a penalty (was Bernard not considered defenseless at that point?) but somehow Pittsburgh got the ball on the challenge??
After so many one and dones, I think Cinci is done with Lewis. They could easily play the shitty weather, backup quarterback card but I feel like they have used up all the excuses.
Mark - my wife and I ((but really my wife) opened a pet food, supply, and grooming store in jax beach yesterday. Has been in the works for 2 years. It is called Earthwise Pet, a franchise out of Portland, OR. The food is organic, premium stuff. Pluses and minuses in the franchise...a minus is their website so hold off on the judging. Everything else, pretty solid.
No boarding Rob though we have had talks about it. We are currently slated for 3 stores. Any of you have your grooming license by chance?
That's awesome, congrats. Will you ship? Our guy needs to lose about 30. Send some for the dog as well.
Very cool, Dan. I'll let our friends who live in Jax Beach and own a couple dogs know about it.
I'm with Mayhugh on the Bernard hit, by the way. Definitely should've been a helmet to helmet penalty. I was rooting for the Bengals but mostly rooting for the under and a Bengals cover. Both cashed!
As for today, I've got Green Bay +1 and the under and Seattle -4 and the under.
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